The word Solstice is composed of two roots: Sol (Sun) and Sistere (to come to a stop, make standstill). So the Solstice is the time that the Sun Stands Still. We're all gonna die!!!!

Kidding.

As you know the Sun's zenith is higher in the Summer and lower in the Winter. Winter Solstice marks the lowest zenith for the Sun and, therefore, the longest night and shortest day. Sunrise also reaches it's southern maximum on Winter Solstice. Sunrise is due East on Vernal (Spring) and Autumnal Equinox. Sunrise on Summer Solstice is 23.5 degrees north of due East and on Winter Solstice it is 23.5 degrees south of due East. The Sun is basically parked (stand still) at that southern maximum for three days.

The ancients would track this in a few ways that I know of: use sundials, build a stone low enough from a specific vantage point that the Sun will only graze it on Winter Solstice, build a stone south enough from a certain vantage point that the rising Sun will only graze it on Winter Solstice, build a long tunnel (barrow) that the Sun will only align to on Winter Solstice. All of these methods are more accurate than you might think, but most of them will not differentiate Solstice from the days immediately sandwiching it. Why? Because the Sun Stands Still. It rises just about as far south on the 22nd and 23rd and stays as low in the sky as it does on the 21st.***

So what? Good question. Well, long nights kind of suck. Perhaps much more so for the ancients who were most likely less equipped to deal with cold and predators than we are today. Winter Solstice was known as the time when the "Sun dies." Then, after the Solar Stand Still, the Sun is born. It's no coincidence that this happens right around the time (Christmas Day) we're told the Son was born. Sun. Son. Interesting. Many ancient solar calendar systems use December Solstice as the last day of the year. Makes sense, right? The solar year ends when the Sun dies. The next begins when the Sun is born.

And now less geek, more magic. It's the most magical time of the year, is it not? Why, because we are told to be festive, get time off work, and have many customs of exchanging gifts with families and loved ones. Okay. Don't let me be the coal in your stocking, but the magical associations of Winter Solstice vastly predate Christmas music.

This is a time of DEATH and BIRTH! Take a look at the Sun. That's the Sun, son!!! That's the light, the rising savior, the energy! We would not be here without the Sun's godly gifts. If you don't believe the Sun's varying output can alter our psychology, astrology is most likely not for you. Get back to work. Move to Seattle . Let's not get into a scientific discussion of the Solar wind's effects on Earth's magnetic fields, which effects our personal fields (yes we have them). Let's not do that today. Let's stop talking to ourselves.

Right.... Death and Birth. What is it you wish to let go of? What is standing in the way of you bringing something beautiful into your experience. It's time to slay that demon and fill the hole with the brightest light. This magic is available to you any minute of the year, but perhaps most available at this time as the Sun dies and is reborn. Use it! Why not take a few minutes out of your holiday craziness of giving to give to yourself. Ask yourself what gift you'd truly like to receive from Universe / Spirit / God / Etc. Ask yourself what is standing in the way? Ask U/S/G/Etc. to show you how to clear that obstacle. You will be supported.

This rare time of Galactic Alignment is perhaps more charged than any other. The Winter Solstice Sunrise (the Birth of the Sun) is precisely aligned to Galactic Center for the first time in 26,000 years! It's been happening probably from around 1975 and will happen until 2020 or so. There are many models for the range of dates, but none deny that it is happening today. Right now! This means, when you look at the Sun today, you are looking straight into Galactic Center. Scientists call this a super massive black hole. Various esoteric traditions have called it companion, dark star, Black Madonna, among many other mystical terms. The Mayans called it Hunab Ku: the great Mother and Creator of us all. Regardless of what you call it, it is the CENTER, the Galactic Sun our Sol orbits. Look to the Sun today to find your local Solar Center aligned exactly to your Galactic Center. Blow kisses.

This might seem like a meaningless coincidence. It might just be. But legends, myths, and cosmologies from ancient civilizations all around the globe point to this time as one of greatest importance. Galactic Alignment has many, many descriptions. My favorite is The Sun on the Cross. A long story, that, but what I'm trying to get across is that this Death and Rebirth process available to you now is also available to all of humanity. What is it humanity must destroy to create something more beautiful?

We would all type our computers dead attempting to answer that one. So how about one word? LOVE.

In the local news, our closet Planetary partner, Venus, goes retrograde today. Seems like the Galactic Alignment magic is being asked to be applied to a specific quality called Love. A dear friend just sent me this message: "It's Venus retrograde. I hear its not a good time to hook up with new love. Is that true for love sparked before the rx even If opportunity only allows connection for the first time during?"

Good news: Venus doesn't go retrograde until just before 2:00pm PST so you've got an hour or so left to sign those contracts. Hurry!

Kidding.

I try not to get shaken when the pretenses of the past paradigm's Planetary police are forwarded my way.

Then I shake a little.

Why should we run and hide from retrograde cycles? I can understand why the ancients would freak out when Planets started moving backwards through the Zodiac, but it is now understood (and has been for a long ass time) that this retrograde motion is an optical illusion. It's just like the illusion we experience when cars we pass on the highway seem to be moving backwards (retrograde) for a time. Illusions within the illusion, as it were.

Venus stations Retrograde today because she is preparing to pass us on the her inner lane of the racetrack. There will indeed be observational repercussions. Venus has been beautifully bright as Evening Star of late, but she has now (from Earth's perspective) changed directions and is on a collision course with the Sun. She's heading into the Underworld Planets find themselves in when they get too close to the Sun and are blinded by its glare. Bright Venus is lost in the Underworld when she falls within 10 degrees of the Sun. This will happen on January 5th. Bye bye, Beautiful.

Venus will Conjunct the Sun (precisely between Earth and Sun) on January 11th. The last Venus/Sun Conjunction was June 5th 2012. Fellow SkyWatchers will remember that date as the very rare Venus Transit when the tiny dot of Venus could be visibly seen crossing over the Sun disc. That won't happen this time around because Venus will be well below the Sun (from our view on Earth). In fact, you will most likely no longer be occupying your current monkey suit during the next Venus Transit in 2117.

Venus will be reborn as Morning Star with her helical rising (visible Eastern ascent before Sunrise) on January 17th. Shamanic Astrology defines this helical rise as the start date for Venus' 584 day synodic cycle. This is the day Venus is reborn and because she will be in the Sign of Capricorn that day, she will spend the following 584 days honoring and embodying the Capricorn archetype. The 584 day cycle that began on June 5th, 2012 and will end on January 16th, 2014 has been a Gemini Cycle for Venus.

What does this mean for us? Venus is Goddess of Love and Beauty. Gemini is trickster, magician, eternal youth, intellectual pursuit of truth. Capricorn is wise elder, grandmother, tradition keeper. There is clearly more than one Planetary variable in the equation of Love and Beauty, but Venus carries the most significance in that math.

LOVE is transitioning from a state of eternal youth trickster magic to one of wise elder tradition keeper. To some, that sounds horrible, but it's not how I read this transition anyway. I believe this Venus Retrograde syntonization to Galactically Aligned Winter Solstice is bringing highest magic to rewrite the traditions of Love. I believe Gemini Venus is about to educate Capricorn Venus. I believe the energy is being seeded for us to release some of the dogma and rules of the Love traditions society suggests. Okay, programs. I believe it's time to destroy old dogma to make room for traditions of light and bliss. Is this not the taste of Love's kiss?

Let's let go of dogma like, "It's Venus retrograde. I hear its not a good time to hook up with new love." And that's an astrological metaphor for the patriarchally programmed matrimonical milieu. Less rules, more Love I say.

IT'S ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS A WONDERFUL TIME TO HOOK UP WITH A NEW LOVE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

'But the astrologer says, if I hook up with a new love now, it surely won't last.'

So what????? Why are we so afraid of death? I mean that in every way. Yes, heartbreak sucks, but it happens because we throw all of our chips into the pot of a gamble we know nothing about. Yes, it's easy to ride the love buzz into stormy seas, but did it ever kill you? Absolutely not. Even the deepest heartache will bring amazing gifts of soul growth when we allow it to.

I propose our new Love traditions be ones of not taking things so damn seriously. Why do we need to hear wedding bells as soon as we see a face? Our need for permanence is a killer of longevity. And our fear of death keeps us from living. It's time to truly live. And to truly live we should allow ourselves to Love with no fear or expectations. We honor our partner most when we never stop loving ourselves.

It's always always always a magical time to hook up with a new love and it's the most magical time of the year, is it not?

The Gemini Full Moon of Trickster Truth launches our minds into the Element of Air where we find Mars spinning in Libra. When the Aries Sun reaches opposition to Libra Mars on April 8th, our Masculine force will take on a 26-month expression of the Libra Mysteries. Equality, diplomacy, and balanced relating come to mind. Perhaps even the politicians will be forced into a period of round table reason. Perhaps.

But what of Aquarius, the highest Air that fuels the Fires above? Maybe that flavor is tasted today as Uranus, the planet said to best represent the Aquarius Mysteries stations Direct in Fiery Aries, which means Gaia has completed her annual pass of that Uranian outer agent of change. The 2012-2015 Pluto-Uranus-Square now surges ahead as both Planets of this rEvolutionary dance spin forward in Direct motion.

2013 has been a year of Emotional Waters, but I believe the Planetary energies of 2014 are most focused towards a revolution of our Mental Air. Mercury's three 2014 retrogrades in Aquarius, Gemini, and Libra is one of many breadcrumbs leading me into that investigation. There will be many significant markers before the next exact Pluto-Uranus-Square on April 21st.

The 2014 Solar and Lunar Calendars will enjoy a rare synchronous start with the Capricorn New Moon on January 1st (3:12am PST). Mercury and Pluto will be right there in the Sun-Moon Mix, which will be aligned to Aries Uranus, Libra Mars, and Cancer Jupiter in a Cardinal Grand Cross. That's a highly charged way to kick off a new year.

January 2014 will feature two New Moons, the second being Aquarius New Moon on January 30th. About two weeks later, Mercury will Retrograde and pass the Sun's path in that Sign of the two jagged lines. I could type my fingers off looking at the many significant Winter alignments, but for now I'll just say they seem to all be building towards the next perfect Pluto-Uranus-Square, which will feature a nearly exact Cardinal Grand Cross between Capricorn Pluto, Aries Uranus, Cancer Jupiter, and Libra Mars (highlighted in attached chart).

Here's my astrological prediction: every astrologer in the world will be talking about that alignment for months.

Back to the point:

This year has welcomed a return of the Sacred Feminine. She of Emotional Water and Earth Body has called to us and we have answered. She has found center and will invite the return of the Sacred Masculine who, believe it or not (and I know you do), has been even further missing in action. He will enter first through the Air of mind and spark the Age of Aquarius from there.

Perhaps Revolutionary Uranus in Aries Fire is about a new Prometheus, one who will steal a new Fire from the Gods. I translate the Fire in that story as technology... even as intellect itself. I know your Guru told you to get out of your head and that's an imperative art form. But we're being called back into our Air now while remaining always anchored to Earth and Water within. The anchored Air will be our route to the Fire of Spirit.

These crazy times call for Revolution. Fukushima has brought our collective consciousness straight into the Waters of terror. But this poison of possible extinction we are forced to ponder might just be the catalyst for evolution. I'm not talking about the idea of Darwinian natural selection; that those who can take a bunch of radiation to the face will survive. I'm talking about an intellectual rEvolution and the technology that will accompany it.

And I'm not talking about the unnatural technology that has taken us further and further from organic humanity over the past 300 years. I'm talking about free energy. Free because it won't use finite resources as fuel. Free because it will free us from the poisoned power platform we've created. Free because, once it's been unleashed to clean this mess we've made, it will unavoidably leave us little folks with organically produced power that doesn't cost shit.

The Seattle clouds have cleared! Brilliant Venus dances towards the Western Horizon as the Gemini Moon rises. Full Moon is exact "tomorrow" at 1:25am. It is a beautiful night to layer up and get your howl on. Those who brave the chill will be blessed by a huge and bright trickster moon with Jupiter in hot pursuit.

Gemini is a Service to Spirit through intellectual pursuit of truth and embodiment of eternal youth. This Gemini Moon brings illumination to Sagittarius seeking, exploration, and vision quest. It is time for us to honor our highest truth while not taking it to damn seriously. Trickster magic is in the air and the Father of the Twins is here to bring some Cancerian nurturing to the wounds our truth reveals.

It has been a most productive year of emotional expansion and transformation, but that ain't always peaches and cream as they say. Tonight is a magical time to be a kid again. We can giggle our way to the light of Source at our core and remember it's all love.

Happy New Moon! The most magical moment is 4:23pm PST today (December 2nd) when Moon Conjuncts Sun precisely at 11degrees Sagittarius. It is time to set intentions that honor the highest light of our inner Archer, the archetype of seeker, explorer, vision-quester, and traveler. Sagittarius is Service to Spirit through devotion to the intuitive pursuit of TRUTH. Nothing matters more than absolute truth. Books, blackboards, news reports, and dogmatic belief systems have little to do with it. Fiery Sagittarius summits the mountain to get a better view of All That Is. There are many, many paths to the peak and purpose is much more significant than technique.

It is also the time to set intentions of purging the perceptions and belief systems that have seduced us into Sagittarius shadow. This demon is best demonstrated by the fundamentalists and fearful keepers of training-wheel traditions that limit our direct connection to Spirit. Those who tell us we cannot change the world have chosen the only path that does not lead to the peak. They'll run around the mountain's base yelling, "that's impossible!" to we who have chosen to climb. When we establish camp, we can construct an elevator for them. Even the so-called 1% will be welcome, for above the clouds, it will become absolutely clear that we are all one. The truth we seek will prove the intentional landslides they create are exactly what motivates and strengthens us to summit the mountain. Their poisons only help our medicine grow.

When we unplug ourselves from the control mechanism by focusing our energy on our lives instead of on the fairytale traps of the television and toys, we awaken to the obstacles that have limited our direct connection to Spirit. Sometimes, Seeking is NOT believing the bullshit. When we uneducate ourselves to release the lies that have confused us, we purge perceptions that have hidden in our shadow and open our minds and hearts to truths that will help us embrace our birthright as divine creators. My general rule of thumb has become, “Any subject I’m told is nonsense only tin-foil-hatters would believe in is worthy of my investigation.” Clearing the clutter of manipulated memory banks gives us the gift of direct communication with our intuitive heart and summons the stream of synchronicity we can follow to our truest selves. When we honor our truth, believing IS Seeking.

My practice for these intention-setting rituals is “state clearly, summon, surrender, stay tuned to the subtleties, and trust Spirit will do the rest." The Moon’s movements will guide our success. This week’s Sagittarius intentions, will be tested by tensions from the waters of Pisces vision, and empathic oneness. They will then be illuminated by trickster Gemini who also seeks truth, but intellectually and while engaging in social celebration of eternal youth. Integration of our intentions will be unwrapped by the archetype of Libra who is balance, diplomacy, and practitioner of pure partnership. Won't that be a pretty Christmas present? Perhaps we'll see we can talk to the trees instead of just decorating them.

What conditioning of consciousness, dissemination of disinformation, treachery of tradition traps, and mainstream media manipulations can you release this month to honor the TRUTH of your inner Archer? It’s time to notch some arrows and aim for the peak of a truer you. See you at target practice!